Sickly Silence
by atlantiandragoness
Summary: It was an unusually quiet day at the Akatsuki base. No explosions, no screams from Tobi because said explosions were being aimed at him, and no endless stream of curses from Hidan over his partner being a ‘greedy heathen bastard’ again. Sasori hated it.


**I'm recovering from a cold right now, which was the inspiration for this. Sasodei if you want to look at it that way, but not intended to be (I just like writing about these two).**

**On another note, Happy Thanksgiving! **

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It was an unusually quiet day at the Akatsuki base. No explosions, no screams from Tobi because said explosions were being aimed at him, and no endless stream of curses from Hidan over his partner being a 'greedy heathen bastard' again. Even the rain, which usually pounded relentlessly at the walls as if trying to tear them down, had stopped. That, however, was due to the fact that Konan and Pain had gone to take a stroll around the village and the former wasn't too keen on being out in a downpour (Paper and water aren't the best of friends after all). Indeed, it was a quiet day for the Akatsuki.

Sasori hated it.

Now, normally the puppeteer was a big fan of the quiet. It allowed him a few precious moments of peace to work on his art before his partner came to break his concentration.

This silence, however, was different, eerie, the kind of silence that couldn't be broken, even by blond terrorists.

The blond. Maybe he was the reason for this silence. The young terrorist was usually up and pestering the redheaded puppet by the late hours of the morning. It was already well into the afternoon and there was still no sign of Deidara.

Perhaps, Sasori considered, the blond had come across a stray bottle of his poison and foolishly mistook it for a simple drink. He shook his head. He would never be so careless as to leave any poison out, especially after he'd worked so hard to organize it in the first place. Still, the possibility did remain. If that were the case, then he could finally add the blond to his collection, like he'd been threatening to do ever since the day they met. On the other hand, it would leave a vacant spot in the Akatsuki, which Tobi would no doubt eagerly fill.

Deciding he'd take Deidara over Zetsu's overly enthusiastic, not to mention aggravating, subordinate any day, Sasori set out to locate his missing partner. He first checked Deidara's room, which was the most practical location to start. Ignoring the scorched battle scars on the door that instantly gave away the identity of the room's resident, the puppeteer let himself in.

The blond was currently snuggled up in his bed, covers pulled up to his shoulders, and eyes shut, or at least the eye Sasori could see was. Even when sleeping, the blond kept his bang in place, while the rest was let down and tied into a loose ponytail. His skin, Sasori noted, seemed unusually pale for someone who flew around on his bird in broad daylight several hours a day, for 'training' purposes.

That poison theory was seeming more and more plausible.

"Danna, un?" came a quiet murmur. He wasn't asleep after all, Sasori realized as Deidara pushed himself into a sitting position. A lidded blue eye stared back at him, as if mocking the puppeteer.

"Why are you in my room?" the teen inquired, his voice still hazy and soft.

"Trying to figure out why you're still in bed."

Deidara stared blankly at him, deciding if this was a trick or not. Shouldn't the puppeteer be glad he's not harassing him?

"Come on brat, you know I hate waiting."

"Just, uh, resting up for that big mission," he said, half-heartedly pumping his arms. "Hafta make sure I'm ready, un."

Sasori scowled. "The mission's not for another week. Try again."

The blond frowned at his older partner. "Jeeze, is it such a crime for a guy to want to sleep in for once, un!?" he hissed and promptly buried his head under the covers in an attempt to hide the cough that was punishing him for raising his voice like that.

Unfortunately for him Sasori's perceptive ears had picked up on his short spasm. The redhead wordlessly brought himself to Deidara's bedside and ripped the covers away from the poor blond.

"Hey!" he protested as his torso, protected only by a thin tank top, was subjected to the slight cold of the room. The puppeteer immediately applied a free hand to Deidara's forehead, focusing on the chakra that ran through there, allowing him a slight sensation of touch. He pulled back, assessing the odd heat.

"You're sick," he bluntly stated.

"No. Really?" Deidara grumbled, gathering the blankets around himself. He let his head fall onto the pillow, purposely turning his back on his Danna.

Sasori watched him a moment, considering. "You haven't drunk any of my poisons, have you?"

Deidara shot back up. "The hell, un?! I'm not stup-" he was cut short, coughs racking his body once more. The puppet paused a moment, then gently placed a hand on the blond's back and patted it, remembering this gesture to be soothing. The coughs lingered on a bit longer before the spasm ended.

"Thanks," he rasped and lied back down, now facing the redheaded puppeteer. "You can go now."

Sasori shook his head and sat down in a chair the blond kept near his bedside, first pushing the bags of clay it was hosting to the floor. "You are obviously incapable of taking care of yourself, or else you wouldn't have gotten sick to begin with. It appears I'll have to look after you until you are well again."

"Aww," Deidara cooed in a falsely sweet voice, "is the self-proclaimed emotionless bastard actually worried about me, un?"

It was Sasori's turn to glare this time. "I'm worried about the sake of our team, brat. If you're still sick then the mission will be forfeit."

"I don't need you babysitting me, Danna," the blond countered, hiding his head under the covers, which was an ironically childish thing to do. Sasori huffed, blowing at his short red bangs. Sometimes Deidara was more trouble than he was worth. He smirked, however, when an idea came to mind.

"Fine, fine. I'll leave you alone." He stood. "I'm sure _someone_ will show up when he hears no one is helping his poor sick sempai."

A chill ran down Deidara's spine. "N-never mind, un. You can stay," he mumbled from under the blankets. The _last_ thing he needed was a visit from 'Dr. Tobi'. Sasori smirked triumphantly and retook his throne.

"Hey Danna?" Deidara asked quietly, almost as if he were afraid to request anything of the redhead. When Sasori looked over at him, he continued. "Can you pass me that gray bag sitting on the desk, un?" Sasori looked over to the desk Deidara was referring to, quickly locating the desired bag. He got up to retrieve it and tossed it over to the sick blond, who caught it in his palm. Or rather, the mouth on his palm caught it in its teeth.

Sasori sat back down, curious as to why his partner wanted the item. Deidara answered the unspoken question by pulling out a small lump of clay and feeding it to one of his hands mouths, which hungrily took the offering. Sasori decided it must help keep his mind off being sick and put the matter to rest.

A moment later the hand spit the clay back out, licking away the earthy residue that lingers on its lips. Deidara gave it a bored look and rolled the clay up into a small ball. He inspected it a bit, and then suddenly took a bite out of the lump, chewing the clay and swallowing.

Sasori shot up in shock. "What the hell do you think you're doing brat?!"

The blond stared at him, head cocked slightly to the side like a confused puppy. "What? The clay breaks up into microscopic particles in my system and detonates when it comes into contact with any infectious cells. It's how I cope with being sick."

"You expect me to believe that you eating clay is the solution to this when-" Sasori cut himself short when the blond's words finally registered. "Huh?"

"Virus goes boom, un," the young terrorist stated. "You didn't think I was suffering enough to blow myself up, did you?"

The redhead was suddenly glad he lacked the ability to blush and turned away from Deidara.

The other chuckled. "You did, un! It's a cold, not a terminal illness."

Sasori glared over his shoulder at the blond. "Then why didn't you just do that in the first place?"

"I did," he replied. "It just takes a few doses to have any real effect, like medicine, un."

"Whatever," Sasori grumbled, sitting back down. Deidara grinned at his partner's obvious embarrassment, snickering to himself.

"Keep it up and you'll be grinning out the other side of your face."

Deidara put his hands up in defeat. "Alright, I get the point." He yawned. "I'm sleepy now anyway." Deidara lied down, searching for a comfortable position. "G'night, Danna."

The redhead snorted. "It's the afternoon, brat." When no response came, Sasori looked to see that the blond had already fallen asleep. With a light sigh he reached over to pull the covers up over the sleeping blond. He stood and decided to leave his partner in peace, shutting off the light as he made his exit. He quietly closed the door behind him and made his way back to his own room.

"You better get well soon, brat," Sasori mumbled to himself. He wasn't sure he could handle another quiet day at the Akatsuki base.


End file.
